Alfred Deakin Brookes

Who was Alfred Deakin Brookes?

Alfred Brookes was the first head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, the intelligence agency of the Australian government that collects foreign intelligence. He was appointed in 1952 by Robert Menzies the prime minister at that time. He was the grandson of Alfred Deakin, Australia's second prime minister. His mother was Ivy Deakin Brookes, Deakin's daughter, and his father was Herbert Brookes. His parents married on 3 July 1905 and he had an older sister, Jessie and a brother Wilfred. Between 1929 and 1930 he lived with his family in Washington as his father was the commissioner General to the United States. His father died 1 December 1963.